By Aayana Anand
What the F is an intersectional feminist, multimedia organization on campus with the mission of
acting as a creative outlet for people with a variety of identities, such as, but not limited to,
gender, class, race, ethnicity, sexuality, ability and socioeconomic status. Our organization’s
main initiatives include our Themed Literary Magazines, Magazine Launch Parties, and
Women/BIPOC/Queer Art Fairs.
In the Fall 2024 semester, What the F was awarded a generous $3,750.00 grant from the BLI,
which we aimed to allocate mostly towards magazine production (printing the magazine copies
themselves, hosting our magazine online) and events (reserving booking spaces, decorating,
food, activities, marketing) throughout the semester.
First, we held our Art Fair in November. One of the biggest challenges we faced was finding the
right space to host our event in. In previous years, we’ve also faced this challenge, except with
limited funds. Some instances, we’ve been restricted to a smaller room that doesn’t meet our
needs or expectations simply because we didn’t have enough funds to upgrade spaces without
taking funds away from other essential items, such as magazine printing. This semester,
however, we were able to confidently book a more accommodating space at a higher price,
knowing that we would still have sufficient funds to cover our other expenses.
Next, we prepared to launch our magazine, involving both the production and printing as well as
the launch party. We experienced layout challenges during this time, specifically pertaining to
miscommunications with our printer and completing a high volume of work in a short amount of
time. This led to us pushing the shipping and printing dates of our magazine slightly back. With
this being said, I am extremely proud of our layout team for all of their dedication in putting
together an incredible magazine layout in the end. Printing is, by far, our most expensive budget
item. As mentioned, knowing that we could comfortably order the amount of magazines we
normally would was relieving. Having extra funding also meant that we could more comfortably
put on our launch party, which involved themed activities, snacks for attendees, and served as a
formal introduction of our magazine issue to the public.
These efforts and our leadership development as a whole aligned with the BLI Habits of “Value
Difference” and “Engage the World.” A major component of our leadership development
included rewording our mission statement to more intentionally emphasize intersectionality and
its connection to our organization. This helped springboard our individual and group
philosophies about leadership as well. As an E-Board, we were all in agreement that our roles
required fluidity between followership (intaking the identities and lived experiences of those in
our community) and leadership (cultivating spaces that welcome a myriad of identities and
express them representatively through multimedia outlets). Collectively, we aimed to model
these principles to the rest of our staff and to our community at large.
Now that we have acquired extra funding, we are working on refining our money management
and budgeting skills for semesters going forward. This includes revising our budget with the
addition of the grant as well as considering team developments in response to the additional
funds (ie. adding a Treasurer to E-Board). This will help us as we begin to plan our Winter
semester programming.
Overall, we hope to continue exemplifying our mission statement and welcome new, diverse
voices to our organization. One thing that my boss, Beth, has taught me in my job as an Applied
Leadership Fellow at the BLI is that while we may not be able to truly create a safe space all the
time, we can at least do our best to cultivate a brave space – I am confident that What the F will
continue to mold braver intersectional leaders as our programming grows for years to come.
What the F sincerely thanks the BLI, once again, for their support!
